Annoying FSU habits/superstitions

[kievstar]

Polish fl was bad for me and the worst was the Ukraine politician flu (I was poisoned in Kiev). Ukraine flu required immediate flight to the USA as doctors there could not treat it or knew what it was.

[Gator]

Any vodka related annoying habits?

My wife hates it.  That's okay because she will drink shots of mescal.  Her opinion is that good vodka has no taste and bad vodka is horrible.  True.

[Gator]

I asked my wife her opinion of American superstitions.  She replied, "Americans don't have superstitions."

That says a lot about our two cultures, at least the zeal with which we observe superstitions.

[possum]

Superstitions come from a place of insecurity.. Americans as a whole are the single most secure nation on earth..

[possum]

Any vodka related annoying habits?

Sure.. Drinking vodka, for one.. But that's not as big a pet peeve of mine as those super sized plastic beer bottles.. There's no recycling culture when it comes to those, so you're likely to see tons of them scattered around the streets and courtyards..

[Gator]

Superstitions come from a place of insecurity.. Americans as a whole are the single most secure nation on earth..

You are very insightful.  Considering your young age, I am especially impressed.

[bobb]

I used to tell my wife that when a person wore clothes at least 4 hours that it's fairly dirty. Especially if she walked around with it and perspired a little. Wash it or take it to the cleaners but don't hang it back up.

I must be part Russian.  I don't wash every piece of clothing I only wear for 4 hours, or even 8 hours.  Do you wash your trousers/jeans/slacks after every use? 

[possum]

You are very insightful.  Considering your young age, I am especially impressed.

Thank you, Gator.. I'm just a naturally curious person who likes taking things apart, so to speak..

[Kuna]

Any vodka related annoying habits?

When my wife or MIL rubs GOOD vodka on my sore back... or sore shoulder...  or sore anything. 

I've tried explaining if they just let me drink it I'll feel good without being depressed they are wasting my Russian Standart!

It doesn't help...  when a RW wants to care for you she won't hesitate to waste good vodka!

[Kuna]

I can probably deal with the street clothes thing, though, I wonder if her habit will change once there is a washing machine and dryer immediately available. 

Eric,

House clothes/street clothes....  not washing something every time you wear it... etc, is not about the lack of washing machines.  It's about prolonging the life of their favourite clothes.

You can have a washing machine in your lounge room if you like but it's unlikely your RW will use it (on her clothes) after every wear.

If you're lucky she'll care for things she values.


I'm surprised you'd not worked this out after all of the time you've spent together living a normal everyday life...   

[GoodOlBoy]

Possum I don't want to derail your thread, BUT...I couldn't find anywhere else to stick this story. 

I guess it is "annoying" in a way, BUT...It really doesn't have anything to do with superstitions.

This morning (before work), my wife was up on her laptop checking something.

I asked her, what's up.

Well, she was checking her on-line bank account for her paycheck.

It was there (every penny), of course, just like it is every 2nd Friday.

She smiled at me and everything was OK in her world, off to the car we go.

I walk her down to her car every morning, carrying her laptop and lunch.

On the way, she explained to me (for the first time) how at her first job in Omsk the owner use to try and "rip off" the employee's EVERY payday with sad stories and BS, leaving them short on their (monies) paychecks.

Now you have to understand, this was during the "good" times in Omsk (about 8 years ago) and at that time my wife was one of the bookkeepers in the company.

So, she knew this guy was FULL of BS, he had plenty of money for his family AND :evil:mistress :evil:.

Anyway my wife finally learned how the "game" was played and eventually wound up going into his office and "demanding" the rest of her money.

She got her money. 

Just before Marina met me, she went to work for a much larger company in Siberia as an accountant and had only a "few" problems with her pay after that.

Anyway, this morning as Marina was getting into her car she told me that it was a relief to have the full amount of money she had earned this pay period sitting in her bank account, instead of having to go around all day "begging" from the owner (in Russia) for something she had already worked hard for.

I guess this is just another reason why my wife likes living in the GoodOl' USA.


GOB

[kievstar]

GOB, I would tell your wife to keep checking in the future.

3rd party payroll providers usually only guarantee 99.5% correctness on employees payroll checks to companies (over the 99.5% they may pay penalties).  It gets worse than that.  The 99.5% is errors detected by employees.  Also each paycheck may count up to 15 items and not just one item (meaning if you have 1,000 paychecks the error rate of 99.5% maybe on 10,000 items which allows 49 paychecks to be wrong and no issue.  Most people would think the error rate would be on 1,000 checks and would not matter if employee found it or not. 

I have found numerous errors in my paychecks over the years and I know most people never check.  I have audited pay runs for large companies and have never had one be clean for all employees.  The risk is higher when an employee starts, adds a dependent, change healthcare, etc. I remember 3 years ago Hewitt hit my account for over 20,000 negative instead of depositing my salary in the account.  I was paying to work 70 hours a week which is not a good thing.

Sorry for the off topic.

[ECOCKS]

The number of errors in US paychecks is insignificant compared to the numbers of Ukrainian payrolls which are cut without warning, delayed or otherwise incorrect. That doesn't count the common practice of "envelope pay" where your money is divided into legal/taxed amd your black or under-the-table amounts which are not taxed.

Western businesses also process many more reimbursed expenses for things like petty cash purchases, training, education, medical plans and travel which is where a large number of errors occur due to calculation, tax effect and multiple people processing expense reports.

[BC]

ECOCKS, GOB,

Yes, count blessings that emphasis for many, but certainly not all companies in the US is still on paying payroll and taxes on time.  On a worldly basis this may be even exceptional.

For the rest of the world a few days, even +- week or more is quite normal.  Believe it or not may even be beneficial when folks plan on a little extra reserve in their budgets.  Much more obscene though are all those payday loan places that simply don't exist here in that form..  not one.

Part of my business is adjudicating insurance claims with US folks.. you cannot imagine (or maybe can) how many call or email for quick settlement terms because they are in dire circumstances.  Quite sad, but very profitable, especially around Christmas time when folks over extend their finances by leaps and bounds.

Getting paid on time but still living on a knife's edge.. quite puzzling.

You need money, and you need it fast. You've already pawned your saxophone. Friends with money won't return your calls.

One option is to get a payday loan, a short-term loan against your next paycheck. Payday lenders typically don't require a credit check, making them an easy source of quick cash. But annual interest on these loans often runs as high as 400%, and many borrowers who use payday loans to meet a short-term cash crunch end up with long-term debt.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2009-08-03-short-term-credit-union-loan-rates_N.htm

If US paychecks are so secure, why in the heck don't the banks want a piece of that huge pie at a reasonable rate?

[GQBlues]

I must be part Russian.  I don't wash every piece of clothing I only wear for 4 hours, or even 8 hours.  Do you wash your trousers/jeans/slacks after every use?  

Clothing worn next to my skin, sure of course I do. The same way everyone changes their underwear and socks and not hang it back up for next day's wearing ~ at least I would hope so. How are they any different from other artcies of clothing? When you factor your perspiration rate, body oils, use of deodorants, lotions, dust, cologne/perfume, etc...things you subject your clothing to on a full day - getting them cleaned isn't such a big deal.

I work full time, 5 days/wk. 5 pairs of slacks/trousers and shirts, they get cleaned after every use. Jackets, sweaters, etc...obviously need not be cleaned regularly but they do see Mr Clean occassionally. Clothes made of cotton, once worn regardless of how long ` gets wrinkled. If you iron them before re-use, you iron in the dirt and grimes.

Jeans, I can take wearing it two days depending how they were worn during that time. I don't find comfort putting my jeans on and getting that 'crusty' feel to it. Consequently, I have 3 pairs of 501s, few pairs of 559s, 2 pairs of low waisted XEs, nearly two months supply of briefs, undershirt, enough slacks/trousers, socks, closet full of dress shirts, etc..

We have a fairly big washer and dryer and worn clothes are directly stored on a wash bin after wearing. Two people, we average 1-1.5 load/wk. When it gets to a point where there's enough for a full wash, it gets washed immediately by whomever. It doesn't take that much time. Drying is the same. Most machine washed clothing can be easily folded or hanged as long as we you do it right after they're dried anyway. Over a movie, which we watch together once a week in the evening, my wife and I can do it almost automatically.

Additionally, we are lucky because our dry cleaner is very convenient. They pick up and deliver, or they have bags they give us so we can just deposit our clothes for cleaning. Once done, they either phone us to tell us it done, or for an extra nominal fee, they'll deliver it. I spend about $120.00/mo on average for dry cleaning. People spend twice that easily on cigarettes/smoking. Alcohol, maybe 3x that..so either way you look at it, it's cheaper to be clean.

[ECOCKS]

My wife loves that the washer and dryer enable faster turnaround on the dirty clothes basket. I have never heard any Ukrainian comment that not washing the clothes makes them last longer as a reason for wearing them more than once. I have heard them many times complain how long it takes to wash them in the pint-sized washing machines shoehorned into their bathooms and then dry them on racks out on the balcony or in a room.

As for houseclothes versus outside clothes, I also have never heard anyone indicate that they take off their outside clothes to avoid wear and tear. It's to avoid getting the dirt and germs from the metro or anywhere else you have sat down during the day spread around your home. Certainly many people who dress in expensive clothing for work (suits, coordinated outfits, etc. remove them when they come home but I have met dozens of Ukrainians who wear the lighter clothing, particularly sweatpants and those sort of heavy pajamas which are so popular with American teens, as soon as they get home, especially in winter.

Last, I am unable to make any connection with the accuaracy of US paychecks (western ones as far as I know) and taking settlements on insurance policies from US companies for people in Italy (or anywhere for that matter). Insurance is insurance, paychecks are paychecks.

[kievstar]

Hi Ecocks, I am talking about 3rd party payroll providers like ADP and Hewitt.  Travel expenses would be errors of companies as they will submit a data file for what is owed in total not line item details.  I used to run shared service centers for fortune 100 companies paying more than 100,000 employees.  If you add in the errors made by people doing the payroll in the companies prior to submitting data to the 3rd party payroll providers it is very large.  401 K is one of the biggest errors and people never really reconcile what goes into their accounts and what employers are supposed to match.  I have talked with executives at Hewitt and they think this is a 100 million plus problem each year.  Employees are being shorted but it is not the 3rd party problem per their contracts.

Check your paycheck each period.  Because no one else is doing it for you.  Few companies do not pay their employees on time but it does happen.  When I worked at Delphi it happened every week somewhere in the world over the years I worked there.  Delphi is an American Fortune 100 company.  Even the company I worked at now could not pay people in Belgium since the HR department in Belgium and Switzerland all took holiday the same week.  Not many happy employees.  HR director was fired.  But this was a Western Europe issue.

[Kuna]

As for houseclothes versus outside clothes, I also have never heard anyone indicate that they take off their outside clothes to avoid wear and tear. It's to avoid getting the dirt and germs from the metro or anywhere else you have sat down during the day spread around your home. Certainly many people who dress in expensive clothing for work (suits, coordinated outfits, etc. remove them when they come home but I have met dozens of Ukrainians who wear the lighter clothing, particularly sweatpants and those sort of heavy pajamas which are so popular with American teens, as soon as they get home, especially in winter.

Perhaps I didn't explain properly (though I'm not sure you were responding to me).

Taking clothes off when you get home isn't going to (really) prolong their life...  wearing them... being careful with them... bringing them home and if not dirty re-wearing them seems to be about avoiding excessive washing.

Another example might be my wife's refusal (not reluctance, REFUSAL) to using a clothes dryer.  It frustrates me no end that she just refuses to use it - but she points to the amount of lint coming out of the filter after 1 use as evidence of how harsh a dryer is on clothes.

There is a difference in how house clothes are treated, but the care taken with shoes and how they are cared for is probably another example.

Don't start me on handbags...


Actually,  this is interesting.  I'll try to start another thread to ask some questions.

[BC]

Last, I am unable to make any connection with the accuaracy of US paychecks (western ones as far as I know) and taking settlements on insurance policies from US companies for people in Italy (or anywhere for that matter). Insurance is insurance, paychecks are paychecks.

Sorry ECOCKS, goofed.. was responding to GOB's post.

[Makkin]

  Kuna makes a good point....My wife from Australia refused to use the electric dryer with clothes and got me to build a nice clothes-line in the back yard. She told me the garments would last longer and it was better for the clothes.


Makkin

[SANDRO43]

Kuna makes a good point....My wife from Australia refused to use the electric dryer with clothes and got me to build a nice clothes-line in the back yard. She told me the garments would last longer and it was better for the clothes.

Some 10 years ago I bought a washing machine that was also dryer-capable - the result was disappointing, cotton laundry would come out of it wrinkled and my house helper had to sprinkle-moist it before she could iron it.

In 1991 and 1997 I was in the USA and both my apartments had dryers - same result. I don't know if they improved them in the meantime, but in my experience hanging laundry to dry produced decidedly better results - possibly due to gravity, much less wrinkles and easier to iron - apart from the fact that laundry sun-dried in the summer has a richer and better smell, IMO . 

[OlgaH]

About two years ago we bought Whirlpool Duet: washer and dryer. I'm very pleased. There are different settings, even for the most delicate materials. After drying the linen and cotton laundry are not wrinkled and very easy to iron.

[OlgaH]

I asked my wife her opinion of American superstitions.  She replied, "Americans don't have superstitions."

That says a lot about our two cultures, at least the zeal with which we observe superstitions.

In a store I started to open a new umbrella just to check how it works. Two AW near me screamed "Oh, no, please don't!" I asked them if there is something wrong and they explained me that it is a bad luck to open an umbrella inside.  I apologized saying that it was a new for me,  so they and a few other shoppers shared some new superstitions with me   

[OlgaH]

Superstitions come from a place of insecurity.. Americans as a whole are the single most secure nation on earth..

You also can google the polls about how many Americans are superstitious  

Why dont many hotels have a 13th floor?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_dont_many_hotels_have_a_13th_floor

Here is an interesting article
The Psychology of Superstition
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46749

[GQBlues]

As for houseclothes versus outside clothes, I also have never heard anyone indicate that they take off their outside clothes to avoid wear and tear. It's to avoid getting the dirt and germs from the metro or anywhere else you have sat down during the day spread around your home.

Agreed. Which is what my wife tells me, too. But that just compounds the issue. If it's too dirty to wear inside the home, why the heck hang it back up and have it pressed against other clothing?